Move comes despite provincial delay
Nov 02, 2009 - 03:22 PM
CLARINGTON -- Another milestone has been reached in the environmental assessment aimed at building new nuclear reactors at Darlington, despite the fact the project remains in limbo.
Federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission CEO Michael Binder announced the establishment of a joint review panel for the proposed nuclear plant project at Darlington. It's the next necessary step in the environmental assessment for the project.
The environmental assessment marches on, despite a provincial delay in moving forward with the project.
In June, the Province announced that while Atomic Energy of Canada Limited had provided a compliant bid to build new nuclear reactors at Bowmanville's Darlington site, it was billions too high in terms of cost. Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman said federally owned AECL needed to "sharpen its pencils" before coming back with a better offer. Since then, the Province has been almost entirely silent on the issue.
The job of the Joint Review Panel is to consider the environmental assessment and licence application to prepare a site for the proposed project. Committee members are to conduct an examination of the environmental effects of the proposed project and determine the significance of those effects; consider potential mitigation measures and follow-up programs; consider public comments and hold public hearings; and, submit a report to the federal government containing recommendations about the project.
There will be three panel members. Alan Graham is a native of New Brunswick and former long-time member of his province's Legislative Assembly. Jocelyne Beaudet is a communications consultant from Nova Scotia who has developed communications plans and public consultation strategies for a number of environmental initiatives. Joseph Kenneth Pereira joined the Canadian Atomic Energy Control Board in 1981 as a scientific advisor and was named director general with the CNSC, formerly the AECB in 2000. He retired in 2007.
Additional information on the proposed Darlington project can be found at
www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca.
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